Shelton v. Jones, 9651.
| Decision Date | 26 January 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 9651.,9651. |
| Citation | 356 F.2d 426 |
| Parties | Nellie May SHELTON, also known as Nellie Mae Shelton, Appellant, v. Charles Thomas JONES and Lemon Jacob Bennett, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
William G. Anderson, Roanoke, Va., for appellant.
James C. Turk, Radford, Va. (John N. Dalton and Dalton, Poff & Turk, Radford, Va., on brief), for appellee Charles Thomas Jones.
A. Linwood Holton, Jr., Roanoke, Va. (Eggleston, Holton, Butler & Glenn, Roanoke, Va., on brief), for appellee Lemon Jacob Bennett.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, and BRYAN and J. SPENCER BELL, Circuit Judges.
Deeming the evidence insufficient to support a verdict for the plaintiff, the District Court entered a judgment for the two defendant-motorists after a jury was unable to agree upon a verdict. The plaintiff has appealed, contending that a jury issue was created.
In darkness and freezing weather the plaintiff, Miss Shelton, was traveling east on Route 11 in Virginia. There had been an earlier snow and the roadway was wet in places, while ice had formed on a bridge some eleven miles west of Salem. When Miss Shelton ran upon that ice-covered bridge, her automobile began to skid and fishtail. She had not been going fast, and she brought her car to a stop after traveling approximately 150 feet upon the ice-covered bridge. In the process, her engine stalled and the car came to a stop slightly askew in the eastbound lanes in which she had been traveling.
Before Miss Shelton could restart her automobile, the defendant, Jones, who had been traveling behind her, saw her in front of him and applied his brakes. By the time his brakes were applied however, he was on the bridge and he too began to skid on the ice. He collided with the rear end of Miss Shelton's car, throwing Miss Shelton upon the ice. She picked herself up and approached the Jones vehicle. As she did so, the defendant Bennett, traveling the road behind Jones, saw the automobiles of Miss Shelton and Jones on the bridge ahead of him. He too applied his brakes, but by that time he also was on the ice. He crashed into the Jones vehicle and Miss Shelton was hit, sustaining substantial injury.
The facts as recited are based upon the testimony of Miss Shelton and that of a highway patrolman, who testified as to the statements made to him by Jones and Bennett during his investigation of the collision. According to the patrolman, each of them had stated that he was traveling at approximately forty-five miles per hour, that he applied his brakes as soon as he saw signs of the obstruction of the roadway ahead, but, when his brakes were applied, he was on the ice and was helpless. The defendants, themselves, offered no defense, but went to the jury upon the case made by the plaintiff.
Under these circumstances, we think the case was properly submitted to the jury in the first instance.
It is well known, of course, that mishaps upon ice frequently produce chain reactions, and that motorists becoming successively involved may do so without discernible fault on their part. It does not follow, however, that their involvement is always without fault. The circumstances are infinitely varied, and the care, or want of care, of particular motorists involved in a collision on ice must be determined in light of the particular circumstances surrounding the accident.
Here, there is no basis for faultfinding with either defendant after he concededly saw the obstruction of the roadway on the bridge and applied his brakes. By that time he was upon...
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